DNR: More saltwater-fishing trips, fewer fish kept

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2012 at 2:28 PM

Walter C. Jones

ATLANTA - The number of fishing trips people are making in Georgia's salt waters has steadily climbed in the last 20 years, but the number of fish they've taken home each time has steadily dropped, according to figures from the Department of Natural Resources.

Fishing trips have grown to 933,000 last year, up 75 percent in the past two decades. But the number of seatrout caught has only risen 59 percent in that time despite significant improvements in equipment and fish-finding technology.

While there are more people fishing, the number of fish they take home has shrunk. In 1992, DNR surveys showed that recreational anglers kept two of every three fish they caught. Today, they throw back two for every seatrout harvested.

For Georgia's two other, most popular fish, red drum and southern kingfish, the patterns are similar. Last year, anglers released 43 percent of the red drum and 57 percent of the southern kingfish, compared to keeping 96 percent of the kingfish 20 years ago.

"One of the things we don't know is why people released a fish," the department's marine biologist who compiles the surveys, Kathy Knowlton, said. "We know anecdotally that people are practicing catch and release now."

Regulations have also changed over time as the agency has sought to safeguard saltwater fish. A law change this year allows the agency's board to more quickly adjust catch limits and fishing days without having to get the legislature to act as it had in the past.

The agency created a nine-member marine finfish advisory panel to interpret the yearly surveys and recommend policy. The new panel met once in Richmond Hill and meets next at the end of the month in Brunswick.

Another change in fishing patterns is the growth in kayaks. The cozy, one-person boats don't allow much room for fish, prompting many of their users to release all or most of what they catch, too.

The recession also played a role, Knowlton thinks. Since about one-third of Georgia's saltwater fishing trips are done on private boats, the price of fuel and high unemployment were likely to keep many boats at the dock.

Fishing trips peaked at 1.2 million in 2008, just as the last recession was gearing up. Last year's total was an increase from the slump in 2009 but still a third short of that all-time high.